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Our research interest is the organisation of biological networks. We are interested in signal processing networks that relay information about the cellular state and the cell's environment to the nucleus where they regulate the execution of the genetic program.
Our particular interest is to understand how cells use their networks to distinguish between different environments, which evolutionary design principles allow their signalling network to respond appropriately and how they reorganise their signalling network in order to adapt to different environments.
We study these networks by making mathematical models of them - an approach that is now recognised as systems biology.
One of the model systems that we study is the MAPK signal transduction pathway in mammals and the genes under it's control. MAPK signalling is one of the best understood mammalian signalling pathway. Models of the processes are developed and studied in close proximity to experimental studies.
We are currently studying these topics in particular:
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Large-scale analysis of signalling/gene expression networks |
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It is currently becoming clear that most cell-fate decisions in mammalian cells are not controlled by one single pathway alone. Rather, the combinatorial, and quantitatively different activation of signalling pathways seems to determine the cellular response.
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Methods for the analysis of bi-partite networks |
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Many biological networks are bi-partite networks, i.e. vertices link two different groups of nodes (such as genes and proteins, animals and plants etc.). We have developed methods to analyse such networks when quantitative information about the link strength is given (2).
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Methods for identification of target genes |
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One of the major bottlenecks in understanding how signalling networks control gene expression is the link between transcription factors and their target genes. Despite intense methodological work, it is still problematic to predict which transcription factor controls which gene.
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Mechanistic modelling of signalling pathways and their evolution |
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We also address the question how signalling pathways can reliably transfer and process information by theoretical approaches using generic mathematical models (1,4,5,6,7,8) or detailed realistic kinetic models (2,3).
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Mathematical modelling of feedback regulation in mammalian signal transduction |
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The signal transduction network processes extra- and intracellular stimuli and transmits them to the nucleus where the genetic programme of the cell is controlled. How do these signalling pathways process the information and control gene expression in a reliable way?
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Research